Homemade redneck exhaust gasket.
 

What I did .... for whatever reason I can't explain, the 50cc scooter has my attention, I guess the thought of something with such a small engine can do so much. So a big bore kit, the carburetor on it I never could get to run right so I broke down and got a new carb ( six week suspension on the mancard for that) anyway that fixed the problem... and supposed to be high performance exhaust, orange coil and CDI ... but I messed up the header pipe to head gasket. I got to thinking and decided to make a circle out of 12 gauge solid wire. Bare wire of course .. I wrapped it around a socket the size of the offset in the header pipe, a nice tight circle of it. So far it seems to work. I've had more fun tinkering with and cussing that 50cc, now 81.3cc than anything else this summer. And I did have to replace the rear valve stem. Someone told me to do that when the front one got replaced and I thought I'd checked the back one and it was good enough.... it wasn't or wasn't for long (another 2 weeks added to the mancard suspension). I was almost 3 miles from home when the valve stem gave out but a nice couple gave me ride home and like Honda used to say, You meet the nicest people on a Honda ... same goes for my scooter but not the way Honda implied.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Glad you're having fun with it.

Even tho my scoot is a 150, I too am amazed at it's capabilities. I'm not obese, but no fly weight either.....wearing my 6 pound leather jacket and other riding gear, I am over 220 lbs. The scooter has no problem with the 10%+ grades, that are part of ever ride I take. Today on the way home the odometer hit 13,000 miles (miles, not kilometers). Runs as good as ever, doesn't use, or drip any oil, and still looks practically new.

I have two 1200cc motorcycles, and a 750cc sidecar rig. I truely enjoy the weight and power of a big bike, but the scooter is a true wonderment....and makes me smile. At the end of each riding season...it is always the scoot that has covered the most distance. I can't figure out how that happens.

Valve stems only come in two sizes....should be available almost anywhere....when I replaced mine, they were purchased at Walmart. Less than $3, for a two pack.